Tony Mowbray has urged Coventry City owner Joy Seppala not to sell prime asset James Maddison any time soon.

The talented midfielder, who is under contract with the Sky Blues until June 2018, has been the subject of renewed speculation linking him with Premier League clubs – Liverpool and Arsenal reportedly ready to make a move next summer, if not in the January transfer window.

The suggestion is that he could be worth as much as £10million based on the sale of MK Dons’ Dele Alli to Tottenham in last year’s mid-term window for an initial £5m with numerous add-ons that would push the figure significantly higher.

He was immediately loaned back to the Dons for the remainder of the season and helped them gain automatic promotion. And that is the only deal that Mowbray would entertain if the price was such that the club couldn’t turn it down.

“Here we have a 19-year-old who they might think they can nick off a club who, to the outside world, doesn’t have much money, doesn’t own a stadium, has to loan in players, hasn’t got much of a squad,” said the City boss.

“Well, I’d have to say I think the owner is pretty resolved about the situation – I’ve told her what an asset she has got.

“James has played 14 games... in League One! Maybe that’s why teams think they can nick a talented young boy.

“My advice has always been to James to let his career develop where he’s going to play every week and where he’s appreciated; let his talent flourish.

“What’s the rush at 18/19 if he’s talented enough? Even at 20 in two years time he might have played 100-odd games for us so, for me, he has to let his talent flourish.

“The only scenario I could see for James Maddison is for someone to pay us the right amount of money and we get him back for two years on loan and invest the money.

"And yet, in an ideal world, he just stays here and plays football for the team. He wears the Sky Blues’ shirt, scores some goals and creates some stuff for the team and grows.

“If you sell James Maddison now for X amount of pounds, in two years time he might be worth ten times that amount. So it would be more frugal for me to keep him and let him play, let him enjoy his football and understand that some big clubs are only trying to nick him.”

Maddison need only look as far as fellow Academy graduates Conor Thomas and Gael Bigirimana – both of whom had failed big money moves to the Premier League with Liverpool and Newcastle respectively – to see that leaving too soon can have a detrimental affect on a career.

“James is clever enough to understand that if this club decided they were going to sell him he’s not going to go and play for Liverpool or Arsenal now,” said Mowbray.

“Why wouldn’t he want to play and enjoy his football here? He’s only played 14 or 15 games in his career, in his life, so my advice to him and the football club is to put all that behind you.

“Let people write what they write in newspapers and just enjoy playing your football and concentrate on the place where people appreciate your talent and want you to grow.”

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He added: “There are lots of things in the equation. It’s not just the boy, there’s the boy’s family, his agent, the club’s mentality on it, the owner’s mentality on it. He’s under contract so we don’t need to do anything.

“That’s why these clubs are, potentially, trying to nick him. If there comes a time somewhere down the line and he’s lighting the league up and the best player in the league and everyone knows that, then the price will dictate that and, ultimately, somewhere along the line all parties will have to agree. But at this moment I think it’s very unlikely that we’ll be selling James Maddison.”